Writing on things like postcards really does not seem to affect the values, I have sold many on Ebay some with writing and some without. Subject is the important issue as well as the photo. Many old postcards were actually used as they were intended and have writing on them anyway, this gives them character.
Back to the subject I have been kicking around the 74 sets raw for a while, but everytime I start something comes up and I ended up shelving the idea. Maybe it is time.
<< <i>I get all of my new cards as well as upgrades from one place and if you have been around a while you would instantly know whom that would be (it's not ebay) >>
Could you fill us newbies in and tell us who you get these cards from?
You've inspired me. I have been working on Post-war HOF (#9), am 50% complete on 48 Bowman (PSA 7/8) and 52 topps (PSA 5). I have 160 out of the 220 1954 Bowman set and will now work on completing it raw. I guess a binder would be best. Will have to find pages to fit the oversized cards.
You shouldn't have any problem finding 8-pocket pages to fit the '54 Bowmans... they will be displayed horizontally so that might prove a minor distraction. Your solution is to build a '55 Bowman set in a binder.
The easiest way to get the 8 pocket pages is probably to order them online. I went to several card/hobby shops looking for them, before I finally found one who was able to order them. He told me it had been 10 years since anybody asked for them. The good news though is my 55 Baseball set looks amazing displayed in brand new sheets. 2/3 done, now for the hard part (Clemente, Koufax, 1/2 the high numbers).
Since my first post in this thread I have been working on the 74 Topps set. I am trying to build this set in an average of near mint to mint, With most cards being better and upgrading along the way. I am trying to find the best possible centered cards for the set and I am about 40% complete with some of that being upgradable from near mint to better. I need to put what I have in pages, Right now they are in Card Saver I's. I think this set is very under appreciated and has some of the best action shots of all-time in it. I have amassed around 700 cards that havent made the cut for the set and need to trade them or sell them, they run ex to nrmt, with a lot of dupes. When I started the set I wanted to make it as close to mint as possible and will be very satisfied with an overall set grade of near-mint to mint +, with every card in the set as close to 50/50 as possible. Good luck everyone on your raw set endeavors, Keep us updated and a scan or two to keep us all drooling.
<< <i>Good luck everyone on your raw set endeavors, Keep us updated and a scan or two to keep us all drooling. >>
I think that's a good idea. I've come across several cards in my sets that I hadn't seen before but thought they were interesting looking or more unique than the others.
That's one of the great things about building sets in this manner, you get to see the "card", if you know what I mean. I do study each one in order to assign a "grade" but since I will never send these into PSA, I don't worry much about it.
I have come to believe that the best way to "buy the card, not the holder" is to actually buy the card and not the holder.
This was how it all got started. In 1970, my parents gave me this card locker after I had starting buying 1970 baseball card packs. All of these years, I have kept the card locker and my original cards from that summer (some of them shown below) to remind me the pure joy and innocence of what it was like collecting cards.
Steve, Welcome back to the days of old. I too reverted to my second childhood, (collecting raw). I still have graded cards and will put small (football) graded sets together. Not for the registry, but because some sets PSA 7's are $5. Can't hardly buy a true NM raw from the 60's for $5. Anyway. here's my list of raws both complete and working. There is 1 baseball and all the rest football as I've narrowed my focus to my true love, 60's football. Good luck, Joe
Complete sets and grade football 1960 Topps Ex 1966 Topps Mint 1967 Philly NM
Works in Progress football 1961 80% Mint 1962 60% Ex-MT 1964 80% Ex but upgrading to NM 1966 70% Ex-NM 1968 60% NM-MT
1961 Topps Baseball 80% EX
Complete Graded 1963 Fleer Football 7.66 GPA
3 other football in the starting faze of PSA graded.
W.C.Fields "I spent 50% of my money on alcohol, women, and gambling. The other half I wasted.
<< <i>This was how it all got started. In 1970, my parents gave me this card locker after I had starting buying 1970 baseball card packs. All of these years, I have kept the card locker and my original cards from that summer (some of them shown below) to remind me the pure joy and innocence of what it was like collecting cards.
>>
Wow, that locker brings back memories! I used mine to sort cards after the NL door broke at the top. I wish I still had it. Cool picture...thanks
You're welcome. Coincidently, the knobber thing on top of the NL door is broken (probably from many moves).
This locker actually led to my bias against "rookie stars" cards and those like it. Inside the locker are slots for each of the 24 teams. So what to do with cards that didn't belong to a specific team? I think they all got piled down in the Milwaukee Brewers slot at the bottom of the AL.
I remember those lockers...good times. If I remember right, don't they have angled slots for the cards to sit in? If not I must be remembering something different.
A time for an exciting update. Since I decided to keep and crack the PSA 6 (and a few PSA 7) from my 1957 registery set, this provided a great foundation for building a raw 1957 set. I am very excited about this since I love the 57 set more than any other. I can still build one (cheaper) while using the funds from the PSA 7 and 8 sales to help reach my goals of building all of the vintage Topps sets.
Here's probably the main reason I am having fun building sets again...
A picture of my 1957 raw set (about 2/3 done)
Don't you think that looks a lot better than what I had before?
And here's a bonus. I have decided to start working on a set that I though I would never get to - 1953 Topps! I am, however, building this set in mid-grade and it will be card by card, whenever I have a little extra funds.
One of the main reasons for wanting to build all of these sets is that there are a lot of cards I would like to have from the various years. The 1953 Topps was chosen now because I would like to get the Jackie Robinson, Satchell Page cards not to mention seeing the St. Louis Browns cards, none of which I could do with the 1957 set. I am still concentrating on the sets of the 60s (plus 72) but thought working on the 1953 set would be a fun and exotic diversion.
<< <i>I know pages and albums aren't the best way to store cards, but it sure is the best way to ENJOY them.
That's a nice set you have there. >>
I think you are absolutely right. As I mentioned earlier, being able to *feel* these cards again and filling in the sheets have been great FUN. I am not stupid enough to crack my gorgeous 1957 PSA 6 Mantle but for the 95% of the other cards, they will do just fine in the sheets.
When I build sets in sheets, I keep hard plastic dividers between every 25 or so sheets. That way, when I flip through the binder, the cards have a fairly stable backing when being flipped multiple pages at a time.
Looks terrific in the album! And I think sheets are fine for keeping cards nice, you just want to be cautious in how you handle them, and how you put them away when done looking. Just great...
Also good luck with the '53 set, that's a beauty. The Mantle and Mays will cost, but a perfectly-nice VG-EX Paige won't cost you much at all! I expect the #1 Robinson ain't cheap in nice-looking shape. In any case, looks awesome even in partial form. Keep up the good work!
I agree with you about not cracking any nice high-grade Micks. I've thought about this before, it seems like even MORE money to put in, but if you "just can't stand" an empty space where the Mick should be, how about a low-grade one in that spot - ideally, one with the type of creases that you can hardly see unless you rotated it in the light. The "ideal" Mick album card!!!
Great thread and nice cards. I recently got back into cards after a 20 year absence and put together the 2007 Heritage set, that had me hooked. I decided to put together a graded 1958 set, but after getting about 65 cards in I decided the graded route was not for me and I started a raw set. I have since sold or cracked out the majority of the graded cards and I am down to 27 that I need for my set, the majority of which are commons with a couple of semi-stars. There is still plenty of room for upgrades, but atleast the binder will be full. I think I'll start on the 1959 set next and maybe work on the sets from the seventies along the way.
Steve, awesome sets you have going. As of this month, I am starting both a 1970 and 1972 raw set. I really am excited about finding nice cards to put in sheets again! It has been a long time since I have done anything ungraded. I still like the graded route for some cards(1971 Topps) but overall I'm sticking to raw sets in sheets. Thanks for the update and keep us informed on your pursuit.
Thank you all for your kind words and encouragement.
Mike, since 2004, I have been buying ALL of my raw cards from one dealer. For a while, like for the 57 and 63 sets, I was buying raw to grade. Now I just buy raw to put in sheets. I will not buy raw on eBay but may on the 53s since I am not looking for anything above EX.
Here's another set, 1964 Topps. This is a brand new set and I am in the process of putting in about 210 very nice looking cards. As with all of the sets I am building, there are a number of cards that I have always wanted to get. The 1964 set is certainly no exceptions, not only do I love the simple yet elegant design, but I really love the WS cards along with the Rose and Mays cards. Here's a page from this new set, showing two WS cards:
Here's just a sample of my raw collection. Those binders with dust covers are from Light Impressions. They are archival safe and beautiful on the shelf. They come in 4 different colors. Any ways, Enjoy:
W.C.Fields "I spent 50% of my money on alcohol, women, and gambling. The other half I wasted.
I just started a 1966 Topps Baseball set. I only have about 110 cards for it so far. I'll be doing it very slowly especially now that the holidays are coming up. I havent built a set pre-72 in a very very long time. Ive enjoyed what I have done thus far.
I agree, those are very nice sets and great presentation. Having already done 69 and 70 football, I had in mind to do a 68 set and I can see that it will look great.
And here's a picture of the beautiful 1967 set. It is 2/3 done in EXMT-NM. One cannot say enough about what I consider to be the best set of the 1960s. I love the combo cards and I look forward to getting many of the star cards.
are you putting all cards including mantles and other superstars in the binder? I put together my 69 topps set and have most, but not all cards in the binder. I couldnt get myself to leave a couple of them so, i dont know, exposed i guess.
<< <i>are you putting all cards including mantles and other superstars in the binder? I put together my 69 topps set and have most, but not all cards in the binder. I couldnt get myself to leave a couple of them so, i dont know, exposed i guess. >>
That's sort of a tricky question. As I am planning on buying (if I haven't done so already) the big star cards graded, I will leave them in the slabs. But only up to a certain point. What I mean is that I believe cards should be displayed (or easily accessible as in a binder), I have built a couple of nice displays on my wall above my desk. The tricky part is that they can only hold so many cards and as I am building 7 sets, I only have room for about the top 5-7 cards from each set (except for the 1957s, which I have two rows set aside). So that means the Mantle, Mays, Aaron, Rose, Bench, Ryan, Seaver, etc. will go up on my wall. The other star cards will be cracked and put in binders. I hope to not have any slabs stored away but as long as I keep to the grade, I shouldn't have to worry about having to crack out $100 cards. Sorry for a long, rambling answer to your question.
When putting together a "raw" set and having the stars graded, what do you think the stars should be graded in for the most return on your set? For example, let's say the raw cards are exmt-nrmt, wouldn't you at least want the stars in 7 or higher?
I would say in general, the better shape you can get your stars in, the better. They should at least match the average grade of the set, and ideally, a touch higher in grade.
My thought has been to get graded examples for the sets I'm working on, but then for placing in an album, to get additional examples - not dogs - but maybe with a light "invisible" crease or wrinkle, to allow the price to be LOW and thus have a "totally filled" album.
I like to put a cut index card into binders where the graded cards spot should be. I place the graded cards details on the index card, but that is being a little weird I realize.
<< <i>When putting together a "raw" set and having the stars graded, what do you think the stars should be graded in for the most return on your set? For example, let's say the raw cards are exmt-nrmt, wouldn't you at least want the stars in 7 or higher? >>
That's an excellent question and one that I am struggling with right now. Of the 7 sets I'm currently working on or completing, I have most of the commons. This week I have been organizing my stars want list and it is a little intimidating. I take a look at the average grade of my set (no weightings) as well as what grades I have most of the cards split between and that's where I chose the stars. I realistically cannot go better with the stars because that would make those cards an aberration or too much like the registry game. Also, I do want to keep within budget because I have the goal of working on more sets after these 7. If I start buying 1968 Ryan PSA 8 or 1967 Seaver PSA 7, then that would be too much money tied into too few cards. But the dilemma that I have is like the 64 set: 39% is exmt and 56% is nm. What I'm thinking of is most of the stars will be at the higher grade while the big stars at the lower one.
Good luck with whatever path you pursue Steve, I agree with the notion of not putting too much into too few cards if many sets are your goal. With the big stars I kind of go on a card-by-card basis; whatever the grade, I go for one that looks nicer than the label would make you think.
In '55s, my Clemente is VG, due to a minor crease but it shows better. '65 Mantle is ex, with nice even "ex" wear at each of the corners... etc.
I like NM stars all right, but often find I can't afford them!
In my case with sets I like I've been trying for stars first, and sporadic commons - thus at this point I haven't got a lot of cards in any one set.
I sort of do the index card thing too. I have my high end star cards pulled and in recessed screw downs. I put index cards in the slot where the card should be. I am not into the grading thing so I just list the card number and the players name.
I like to assemble my sets by getting the commons and semi stars first. Then I look for the best condition stars that I can afford.
My approach on my raw 1958 set was to purchase lots of commons initially, and the stars every now and then when I came across a deal, now that I am down to under 25 common cards I don't purchase lots anymore. My plan is to finish the set and then upgrade it while I'm working on my next one, my goal is to have all of the stars at a minimum grade of a 6 with nice centering. I will crack them all and put them in the binder (yes even the Mick), and yes that probably means that I will have more money wrapped up in the set than it would sell for, but since it is purely for my enjoyment and I don't plan on selling it I really don't care.
Hey HA, I have a '58 Mick that would be an "ideal" album card, its a dead-nuts centered PSA4 - due to a light surface wrinkle through Mick's chin that literally can only be seen when you bounce light off the card. Mine I'm not cracking out, but perhaps you could find something similar for your album set.
The 1968 set is interesting to build with lots of higher condition cards available. The burlap design and all those headshots make this one of the more unattractive vintage sets but there are a lot of good star cards, plus we have an All-Stars subset, which is always fun. This set is growing on me, esp. seeing how sharp a nm-mt card can be. I have it 83% complete and spending time to upgrade quite a few cards to nm and nm-mt.
The next set is my second favorite from my childhood, the 1971 set. This was the second year that I bought packs and just like with the 1970s, seeing these cards brings back a lot of memories. One of my favorite stories is walking down to a mom&pop shop on a warm Saturday afternoon, buying a pack and then pulling the Vida Blue card. I was so excited since he was having an awesome year and I still have this card sitting on my display above my desk. This set have been about 95% complete for 20 years and I have been working on upgrading on it, like just adding 113 nm-nmmt cards to it recently. Some of the cards that I really like include the team cards (probably one of the best looking team card designs of all time, next to the great 57 set) and the league leader cards, plus some of the rookie cards that have a red design. Looks really cool against the black border. I do miss having the combo cards, which they had stopped doing in 1970 for some reason. It is interesting, however, to see this set side by side with the 64 set and noticing how similar it is. Just take some of the rookie cards and team cards, change the border to white and they would look just like the 64 set.
Here is an example of my 69 topps set in binder. The filler i used is one of the pack thickener thingies from modern packs. This is the first set i have ever completed.
Comments
Back to the subject I have been kicking around the 74 sets raw for a while, but everytime I start something comes up and I ended up shelving the idea. Maybe it is time.
<< <i>I get all of my new cards as well as upgrades from one place and if you have been around a while you would instantly know whom that would be (it's not ebay) >>
Could you fill us newbies in and tell us who you get these cards from?
Sweet Morsels Toffee and Chocolates
Mike
The '55 Topps is probably my fave-LOOKING '50s set. Only reason it's not my "fave" set is due to Mantle's absence. That aside - what a great set!
I am trying to find the best possible centered cards for the set and I am about 40% complete with some of that being upgradable from near mint to better.
I need to put what I have in pages, Right now they are in Card Saver I's.
I think this set is very under appreciated and has some of the best action shots of all-time in it. I have amassed around 700 cards that havent made the cut for the set and need to trade them or sell them, they run ex to nrmt, with a lot of dupes.
When I started the set I wanted to make it as close to mint as possible and will be very satisfied with an overall set grade of near-mint to mint +, with every card in the set as close to 50/50 as possible.
Good luck everyone on your raw set endeavors, Keep us updated and a scan or two to keep us all drooling.
<< <i>Good luck everyone on your raw set endeavors, Keep us updated and a scan or two to keep us all drooling. >>
I think that's a good idea. I've come across several cards in my sets that I hadn't seen before but thought they were interesting looking or more unique than the others.
That's one of the great things about building sets in this manner, you get to see the "card", if you know what I mean. I do study each one in order to assign a "grade" but since I will never send these into PSA, I don't worry much about it.
I have come to believe that the best way to "buy the card, not the holder" is to actually buy the card and not the holder.
Complete sets and grade football
1960 Topps Ex
1966 Topps Mint
1967 Philly NM
Works in Progress football
1961 80% Mint
1962 60% Ex-MT
1964 80% Ex but upgrading to NM
1966 70% Ex-NM
1968 60% NM-MT
1961 Topps Baseball 80% EX
Complete Graded
1963 Fleer Football 7.66 GPA
3 other football in the starting faze of PSA graded.
"I spent 50% of my money on alcohol, women, and gambling. The other half I wasted.
<< <i>This was how it all got started. In 1970, my parents gave me this card locker after I had starting buying 1970 baseball card packs. All of these years, I have kept the card locker and my original cards from that summer (some of them shown below) to remind me the pure joy and innocence of what it was like collecting cards.
Wow, that locker brings back memories! I used mine to sort cards after the NL door broke at the top. I wish I still had it.
Cool picture...thanks
This locker actually led to my bias against "rookie stars" cards and those like it. Inside the locker are slots for each of the 24 teams. So what to do with cards that didn't belong to a specific team? I think they all got piled down in the Milwaukee Brewers slot at the bottom of the AL.
Here's probably the main reason I am having fun building sets again...
A picture of my 1957 raw set (about 2/3 done)
Don't you think that looks a lot better than what I had before?
One of the main reasons for wanting to build all of these sets is that there are a lot of cards I would like to have from the various years. The 1953 Topps was chosen now because I would like to get the Jackie Robinson, Satchell Page cards not to mention seeing the St. Louis Browns cards, none of which I could do with the 1957 set. I am still concentrating on the sets of the 60s (plus 72) but thought working on the 1953 set would be a fun and exotic diversion.
Here's a picture of what I have so far
That's a nice set you have there.
mosaic's Nolan Ryan Basic Topps registry set
mosaic's Big 3 Nolan Ryan Run Showcase
<< <i>I know pages and albums aren't the best way to store cards, but it sure is the best way to ENJOY them.
That's a nice set you have there. >>
I think you are absolutely right. As I mentioned earlier, being able to *feel* these cards again and filling in the sheets have been great FUN. I am not stupid enough to crack my gorgeous 1957 PSA 6 Mantle but for the 95% of the other cards, they will do just fine in the sheets.
This is one of my favorite threads. I love the look of those cards in the binder. Good luck with your continued pursuit!!!
<< <i>I love the 57 set more than any other. >>
I agree, one of the best sets ever..
Looks great!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Also good luck with the '53 set, that's a beauty. The Mantle and Mays will cost, but a perfectly-nice VG-EX Paige won't cost you much at all! I expect the #1 Robinson ain't cheap in nice-looking shape. In any case, looks awesome even in partial form. Keep up the good work!
I agree with you about not cracking any nice high-grade Micks. I've thought about this before, it seems like even MORE money to put in, but if you "just can't stand" an empty space where the Mick should be, how about a low-grade one in that spot - ideally, one with the type of creases that you can hardly see unless you rotated it in the light. The "ideal" Mick album card!!!
My Registry Sets
Robert
Thanx for the update!
The set is way easier to enjoy in the album - not to mention the weight loss!
Have you been buying lots or just singles?
The 53T is probably my all-time favorite! I almost picked up an artist proof of a card but it went too high.
Good luck on the set and continuing with your Topps runs.
mike
Mike, since 2004, I have been buying ALL of my raw cards from one dealer. For a while, like for the 57 and 63 sets, I was buying raw to grade. Now I just buy raw to put in sheets. I will not buy raw on eBay but may on the 53s since I am not looking for anything above EX.
The Aaron card that year is one of his best, too.
"I spent 50% of my money on alcohol, women, and gambling. The other half I wasted.
Here's a few more.
"I spent 50% of my money on alcohol, women, and gambling. The other half I wasted.
http://sportsfansnews.com/author/andy-fischer/
<< <i>are you putting all cards including mantles and other superstars in the binder? I put together my 69 topps set and have most, but not all cards in the binder. I couldnt get myself to leave a couple of them so, i dont know, exposed i guess. >>
That's sort of a tricky question. As I am planning on buying (if I haven't done so already) the big star cards graded, I will leave them in the slabs. But only up to a certain point. What I mean is that I believe cards should be displayed (or easily accessible as in a binder), I have built a couple of nice displays on my wall above my desk. The tricky part is that they can only hold so many cards and as I am building 7 sets, I only have room for about the top 5-7 cards from each set (except for the 1957s, which I have two rows set aside). So that means the Mantle, Mays, Aaron, Rose, Bench, Ryan, Seaver, etc. will go up on my wall. The other star cards will be cracked and put in binders. I hope to not have any slabs stored away but as long as I keep to the grade, I shouldn't have to worry about having to crack out $100 cards. Sorry for a long, rambling answer to your question.
My thought has been to get graded examples for the sets I'm working on, but then for placing in an album, to get additional examples - not dogs - but maybe with a light "invisible" crease or wrinkle, to allow the price to be LOW and thus have a "totally filled" album.
<< <i>When putting together a "raw" set and having the stars graded, what do you think the stars should be graded in for the most return on your set? For example, let's say the raw cards are exmt-nrmt, wouldn't you at least want the stars in 7 or higher? >>
That's an excellent question and one that I am struggling with right now. Of the 7 sets I'm currently working on or completing, I have most of the commons. This week I have been organizing my stars want list and it is a little intimidating. I take a look at the average grade of my set (no weightings) as well as what grades I have most of the cards split between and that's where I chose the stars. I realistically cannot go better with the stars because that would make those cards an aberration or too much like the registry game. Also, I do want to keep within budget because I have the goal of working on more sets after these 7. If I start buying 1968 Ryan PSA 8 or 1967 Seaver PSA 7, then that would be too much money tied into too few cards. But the dilemma that I have is like the 64 set: 39% is exmt and 56% is nm. What I'm thinking of is most of the stars will be at the higher grade while the big stars at the lower one.
In '55s, my Clemente is VG, due to a minor crease but it shows better. '65 Mantle is ex, with nice even "ex" wear at each of the corners... etc.
I like NM stars all right, but often find I can't afford them!
In my case with sets I like I've been trying for stars first, and sporadic commons - thus at this point I haven't got a lot of cards in any one set.
I sort of do the index card thing too. I have my high end star cards pulled and in recessed screw downs. I put index cards in the slot where the card should be. I am not into the grading thing so I just list the card number and the players name.
I like to assemble my sets by getting the commons and semi stars first. Then I look for the best condition stars that I can afford.
My Registry Sets
The 1968 set is interesting to build with lots of higher condition cards available. The burlap design and all those headshots make this one of the more unattractive vintage sets but there are a lot of good star cards, plus we have an All-Stars subset, which is always fun. This set is growing on me, esp. seeing how sharp a nm-mt card can be. I have it 83% complete and spending time to upgrade quite a few cards to nm and nm-mt.
http://sportsfansnews.com/author/andy-fischer/